12/21/24
June 10, 2003
Beckham to Barcelona!: United agreed to undisclosed terms, and now it's up to Becks. More from Sky News and Manchester United.
posted by worldcup2002 to soccer at 10:06 AM - 19 comments
At least it wasn't Real Madrid. This has got to piss off the EPL fans though.
posted by Ufez Jones at 10:08 AM on June 10, 2003
David Beckham today admitted that he had never pledged to remain at Manchester United for the remainder of his career. Does he have any say in this? A no-transfer clause in his contract? I was under the impression that football players are treated like commodities. He's sold, see ya later. If he had any say in the matter then how much bearing would Barca's absence from the next Champion's League competition have on his 'decision'? I don't understand what relevance his feelings have on any of this other than his media idol status that means we just have to know everything about what he does.
posted by gspm at 10:24 AM on June 10, 2003
If he doesn't come to an agreement with Barca over wages and whatever, then Barca's not going to be paying 21M for him, and he's not going. So he does have some say. I doubt he'll go to a team without even a UEFA cup spot, though.
posted by sauril at 10:36 AM on June 10, 2003
HEADLINE: BECKHAM SCRATCHES HIS NOSE, DOES THIS MEAN HE IS GOING TO AC MILAN?!
posted by StarFucker at 11:25 AM on June 10, 2003
European Football fans help me (and gspm) out: how are player contracts structured? I was under the impression they were sold like slaves to whoever pays their club the most money. Are there any "free agents" like in baseball or NFL football?
posted by dusted at 11:37 AM on June 10, 2003
Here's how it goes: (I covered this here before but can't remember where.) Transfer fee = money exchanged by clubs when player is sold (e.g., 21 mil pounds between Barca and Man U) But this is all dependent on what the player's personal terms are with the new club: Salary = how about 20K pounds ... a week! Other things to sweeten the pot on both sides: - Signing bonus - Win bonus (games, league, cups, qualification for Euro championships) - Merchandising rights - Appearances - Releases to play international games ... the list goes on, depending on how valuable the player is, and the wealth the club is accustomed to spending.
posted by worldcup2002 at 12:33 PM on June 10, 2003
Players also often get a percentage of the transfer fee. And after a certain number of years/age, they become eligible for a free "Bosman" transfer. (named after the player who went to the courts for it)
posted by sauril at 12:47 PM on June 10, 2003
Some more about Bosman: http://www.famousbelgians.net/bosman.htm http://www.liv.ac.uk/footballindustry/bosman.html
posted by sauril at 12:48 PM on June 10, 2003
Martinez Rovira said: "Beckham is a media signing and more of a dream than reality. He is a player we would never try to sign. He crosses well but we need someone to score the goals. Beckham makes a lot of news off the pitch but we're not interested in appearing in gossip columns." Ouch, baby. Very ouch. Thanks for the help, Sauril, as I was a bit confused also. I guess soccer players have a hell of a lot more to say about being moved than baseball players. Now, two questions: 1) Is this serious? Is this just a really brilliant plot by Laporta to gain favor in the election? And who the hell elects the president of a team? 2) Is Beckham worth it? This is the equivalent (if I read it right) of Barry Bonds being sold to the Texas Rangers — plenty of money, not all that good a team. Is that accurate? And the way the Real Madrid spokesman went off, is this a good deal for anyone at this price?
posted by wfrazerjr at 01:16 PM on June 10, 2003
wfrazerj: The BBC has answers to your questions ... 1) Who is Joan Laporta? Laporta is one of five men vying for the presidency of Barcelona, which will be decided on 15 June by the club's 103,000-plus members. ... Laporta's rivals have dismissed his promise to sign Beckham as irresponsible. After all, Barca are a club in crisis, £100m in debt (WHOA!) and struggling to qualify for next season's Uefa Cup. 2) Beckham's commercial worth Both Real Madrid and Barcelona have weak fan bases in Asia, so Beckham's signature would be a major boost. He would also boost their fan base in other European markets. Next!
posted by worldcup2002 at 02:36 PM on June 10, 2003
Welcome to football business Q&A... thanks guys!
posted by dusted at 03:06 PM on June 10, 2003
We loves our soccer geniuses... No we doesn't, they want to spank us! Love them we do! Go away! No, stupid soccer pancake overlords want to hurt us, want us to worship them!!! Not go away. Stupid Smeagol!
posted by billsaysthis at 03:33 PM on June 10, 2003
In the article wc2k2 linked about Laporta, it says: "He has already beaten Arsenal and United to the signing of Turkey's international goalkeeper Rustu Recber, and has promised a new coach." How can someone who is not yet elected actually sign a player and make a transfer deal that cannot be, well, ignored if one of the other clubs decides it still want to pursue the player? I differentiate Recber from Becks in that the article presents his situation as already done, but Laporta cannot have authority to commit to deals for Barcelona at this time.
posted by billsaysthis at 03:43 PM on June 10, 2003
You mean there are more than 100,000 members of Barcelona, and they all get to vote on who the president is?!? My God, that's brilliant! That way, when your team sucks ass, you can wear a T-shirt that says, "It's not my fault. I voted against Laporta!" Also ... I don't care what country we're discussing. "Joan" is not a man's name, no matter HOW it's pronounced. I can only hope his opponents are named Pat, Robin and Kris.
posted by wfrazerjr at 04:04 PM on June 10, 2003
Salary = how about 20K pounds ... a week! Are you kidding? He's reportedly on 100K a week at Man U. Wherever he goes, he will go. There's no way Beckham is going to stay at Man U if they've accepted an offer for him. Personally I was hoping he'd sign for Birmingham. ;-)
posted by squealy at 06:17 PM on June 10, 2003
100K a week is 5 mil a year. Yeah, that looks about right, squealy. However, we're talking about top-tier salary here. I think 20K a week is more the average, if not the high end of average, for the EPL, no?
posted by worldcup2002 at 11:17 PM on June 10, 2003
Yep, that would be about my estimate for the top end of the average. It's hard to know though as players and clubs are understandably cagey about revealing players' salary details. I think Roy Keane is on a similar amount to Beckham. Of course, teams like Man U can afford it, it just makes things tough for the smaller EPL clubs to try to compete without those resources to tempt players. Which is one of the reasons that if Beckham does leave, he'll have to go abroad to one of the wealthier continental clubs. That and his stick-woman missus nagging him of course.
posted by squealy at 02:16 AM on June 11, 2003
He won't go there. If he can't get in at Real or AC he'll stick it out until he can go where he wants on a free, in two years (?) time. He'd be foolish to kiss off Champions League football at this stage in his career though. Can't see it happening.
posted by walrus at 04:24 AM on June 11, 2003
I think the last public offer I read was 21 million pounds. I wonder what Becks will get.